720 pilgrims to embark on Kailash Manasarovar yatra that begins after 5-year hiatus this summer

A total of 720 pilgrims, including 30 liaison officers, will go for Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this summer after five years, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced in a ceremony on Wednesday.

This year's selection of pilgrims was made through a lucky draw, a computer-generated, random, and gender-balanced selection process.

The yatra has remained suspended for five successive years. It has not taken place since 2020, following the Covid outbreak and the subsequent non-renewal of yatra arrangements by the Chinese side. It will resume this summer from the third week of June and will end on August 25th.

The pilgrimage will be held through two routes, one via Uttarakhand and the other via Sikkim. In all, 720 Indian nationals will be permitted to undertake the religious pilgrimage, while 30 liaison officers will accompany them.

Mount Kailash and Manasarovar Lake are holy sites for the Hindu religion and are located in Tibet.

Giving a breakdown of the 720 pilgrims, the MEA said 5 batches, each consisting of 48 Yatris, are scheduled to travel through Uttarakhand State, crossing over at Lipulekh Pass, and 10 batches, each consisting of 48 Yatris, are scheduled to travel through Sikkim State, crossing over at Nathu La Pass, respectively. Along with the pilgrims, 30 liaison officers have been deputed in service of the pilgrims.

This year, 5,384 total applicants were received for the pilgrimage, which included 3,898 males and 1,486 females. It also included 404 people over the age of 65 years who had registered for the yatra.

In his address, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Kirti Vardhan Singh, said that apart from Hindus, this yatra is also sacred for Buddhists and Jains. "5,000 people had applied online. The roads have been made motorable towards Lipulekh pass and Nathula pass. This will benefit elderly pilgrims," he said.

He also informed that the pilgrims will stay at the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Bhawan at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh before the commencement of their pilgrimage.

Singh urged pilgrims to ensure that this "sacred place" is not polluted with leftovers during their pilgrimage.

India now has a fully paved road to its side of Lipulekh Pass, a 16,870 feet high mountain crossing between Uttarakhand, India, and Tibet.

In 2020, the Border Roads Organisation, under the Ministry of Defence, opened the 80 km road between Dharchula and Lipulekh. This reduced the five-day one-way trek to a four- to five-hour car drive. The Sikkim route via Nathu La onwards entails a 4 to 5-day road journey into the Tibet autonomous region.